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| Two of the illustrations that will feature in Mr. Summerhaye's Horse |
France, like many other countries, is in lockdown. I am forced to remain at home for the forseeable future. And I wish I could say it is a great opportunity to write. Unfortunately, I have been spending more time frantically looking at the news and wallowing in anxiety and self-pity than actually being productive.
Having more time at home is having more time to write. Even if the global sitation is more than worrying. Even if it's difficult to concentrate. Even if I wish this was not happening. Or if I could just sleep all the time and wake up when this mess is over. So I tell myself this: having more time at home is having more time to write.
But how can you write in those conditions? I, personally, have created a little schedule for my day. It's not a very ambitious one, but that means I've been able to follow it. It's quite simple. In the morning, I work on a brand new manuscript for one hour. This is quite an enjoyable task, as creating the story, imagining it, writing it down is fun. Then, for another hour, I edit another work in progress. At the moment, it's the sequel of As Winter Came and Went. I had the ambition of releasing it in 2020 this is not going to happen: I was distracted by other projects. Then, in the afternoon, I work for 1 or 2 hours on the illustrations of Mr. Summerhaye's Horse. There will be a total of 21 and I have already done 10.
As you can see, this isn't a schedule that will make me super productive. However, slowly but surely, I am making progress. Each day I add about 1,000 words to my new manuscript. Each day I clean up a bit more the messy, unappealing tangle that is the sequel to my novel. Each day I am getting closer to having my novella ready for publication.
The goals I've set myself are easy to meet. Maybe, as the days (weeks) pass, I'll try to be more ambitious. Maybe I'll try to up my wordcount to 2,000/day, or even 3,000. Maybe I'll start a new project. I've done it before, even if the situation was very different. Now, we can control nothing. We can only wait and hope we escape unscathed. It appears, from what I've seen in different writers' online groups, that some authors are inspired by the events unfolding around them. Some are writing stories. Some are keeping a journal. Some are likening it to the apocalypse.
The situation is indeed apocalyptical. I think that my little writing routine is helping me a bit to cope with it. At least, it's useful to while away the time. It's a way to keep a semblance of normality, when it's not even certain things will ever go back to normal. To what they were before.
